The Westport baseball team received outstanding pitching and timely hitting as they shut out Atlantis Charter 11-0 in their first league game of the season on Monday afternoon. The win improved the Wildcats overall record to 6-3. Westport co-ace, Luke Finglas was masterful, striking out 12 and yielding just 2 hits, 5 walks and 0 runs in 6 innings. Reliever Max Gallant came on and struck out the side in the seventh inning to end the game. Finglas has started the season 3-0 with a .737 ERA in 19 innings of work. The senior who has been pitching for the Wildcats since eighth grade, throws a two and four seam fastball and mixes in a slider, changeup and curve ball.

“Luke pitches with a ton of emotion and confidence,” said Westport head coach Kenny Tocci. “He wants the ball in key spots and I believe in his ability. He has as much intestinal fortitude as anyone I’ve coached.”

Wildcats pitching

Connor James, a senior, is the Wildcats’ co-ace, that like Finglas, has been pitching for Westport since eighth grade. The big right-hander has a 2-2 record with a 2.18 ERA. He throws in the low 80s, with a four seam and two seam fastball, change up, slider, curve ball and splitter.

“We go back to back in some cases when we need to help eachother out,” said James of Finglas.

He considers himself a pitch-to-contact pitcher.

“I throw a lot of off-speed stuff,” James said. “I can still strike some hitters out with my off speed, but I throw my fastball to get grounders or popups for outs.”

Gallant, a senior, is the Wildcats third option at pitcher. He is 1-1 with a 4.45 ERA. Coach Tocchi also uses the versatile player to play both middle infield positions as well as all the outfield positions.

“We have two great pitchers,” Gallant said of Finglas and James. “Overall we have a good team. We recently just hit some rough spots, but we’ll get better.”

He referred to a recent rough patch  where Westport went 2-2 with losses to Case and Carver.  Despite those losses, the Wildcats have played well in the field. James and Finglas play at first base, Jesse Oliveira at second base, Gallant at shortstop, Jacob Aurelio at third base and Bryton Graham at catcher.

The outfield of Kirby, Boudria and Guild has a ton of speed and can cover a lot of ground. The three players all have strong arms to make plays in the infield.

“So far we’ve been alright,” said Gallant of the Wildcats season thus far. “There’s been a few games that we could have been more awake. Games when we are awake, we look good.”

James’ bat leading the offense

The senior laden Wildcats have scored 59 runs in nine games this season. Currently they’ve beaten Diman, South Shore, Nantucket and Atlantis Charter, while falling to Carver, Case and Hull.

James is leading Westport with ten hits and a .455 average. Coach Tocchi uses the righty anywhere from the 2-spot to the 5-spot in the Wildcats’ lineup.

“I’ve been hitting pretty good,” said James. “Coach has moved me around, depending on the game. He’s trying to keep the speed at the top of the lineup and add some power behind it.”

James is the power. He hit a 3 run double during Westport’s win over Atlantis Charter in their first league game on Monday. He has an OPS of 1.344 and a whopping slugging percentage of .773.

Kirby who batted cleanup against Atlantis is second on the team in OPS, .921 and slugging percentage, .421. He went 1 for 3 with an RBI and 2 runs scored against Atlantis. He currently is second on the team with an average of .368. Boudria, who has been hitting leadoff, is third on the Wildcats with an average of .320.

“This year is our prime time to shine,” said Kirby. “We have 11 seniors. We got to do what we got to do and execute. Executing is the biggest thing.”